Privacy Policy and Website Terms of Use

Year of Code Waterloo Region (YoCWR) is a not-for-profit organization that promotes digital literacy, inclusivity and access to all within Waterloo Region. Our mission is to improve the technical literacy of the regions residents through education programs delivered both by YoCWR and through our partners, that will raise the quality of life and opportunities for residents, and increase the profile of Waterloo Region nationally and globally.

YoCWR is committed to protecting personal information by following responsible information-handling practices in keeping with privacy laws. YoCWR uses modern information and communication technologies to support our activities. Our Privacy Policy applies to this web site and any integrated online systems used by YoCWR.

Volunteers
If you want to participate as a volunteer on one of our projects or events, you may be asked to sign up through this website or other integrated online systems that YoCWR may use from time to time. You may be required to provide your name, address, phone number, employer name, position and e-mail address to register as a volunteer. You may also voluntarily provide other Personal Information to YoCWR when registering as a volunteer.

To the extent that YoCWR collects any Personal Information, this Privacy Policy is designed to tell you about YoCWR’s practices regarding collection, use, and disclosure of such Personal Information. Please be sure to read this entire Privacy Policy before using or submitting information to YoCWR. Your use of this Site means that you have reviewed this Privacy Policy and agree that we may collect, use and disclose your Personal Information in accordance with both documents.

Email Subscriptions
When you subscribe to an email list from YoCWR, you need to supply your name and an email address and other information. This email address will be used to deliver the mailing list messages to you. Your email address will not be disclosed to any other mailing list subscriber, organization, website, or government agency.

What Personal Information YoCWR May Collect
We consider “Personal Information” to mean any information recorded in any form, about an identified individual or an individual whose identity may be inferred or determined from such information, other than business contact information (e.g., name, title, business address).

Use of Cookies
A cookie is a small text file containing a unique identification number that is transferred from a website to the hard drive of your computer so that the website may identify separate visitors to the site and track users’ activities on the website. A cookie will not let a website know any personally identifiable information about you, such as your real name and address. YoCWR uses cookies only to keep track of how many people visit the website and how frequently each page is visited, as well as interactions and downloads on the site. Each individual movement of any user cannot be tracked while on the YoCWR website. YoCWR uses cookies to track page popularity in order to improve the quality of the site and meet user needs. We collect information about you only if you volunteer it.

YoCWR only collects, uses and discloses Personal Information for the purposes described above as would be considered reasonable in the circumstances and only such information as is required for such purposes. We use only fair and lawful methods to collect Personal Information.

Our use of Personal Information is limited to the purposes described in this Policy. YoCWR may choose in future to sell, trade, barter, exchange or disclose for consideration any Personal Information it obtains. If so you may receive thirty days notice to withdraw consent.

Our site has links to other web sites that are not under our control. If you use any links in this web site to web sites not maintained by YoCWR, you will leave the YoCWR web site. The linked sites are not under the control of YoCWR and YoCWR is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site. YoCWR provides these links to you only as a convenience and the inclusion of any link does not imply recommendation, approval or endorsement by YoCWR of the site, nor does it imply that the linked site recommends, approves of, or endorses YoCWR. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of any other website you visit.

When YoCWR May Disclose Your Personal Information

Please note that there are circumstances where the use and/or disclosure of Personal Information may be justified or permitted or where YoCWR is obliged to disclose information without consent. Such circumstances may include:

a) Where required by law or by order or requirement of a court, administrative agency or governmental tribunal;
b) Where YoCWR believes, upon reasonable grounds, that it is necessary to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of an identifiable person or group;
c) Where it is necessary to permit YoCWR to pursue available remedies or limit any damages that we may sustain; or
d) Where the information is public.

Where obliged or permitted to disclose information without consent, YoCWR will not disclose more information than is required.

Consent

Unless permitted by law, no Personal Information is collected without first obtaining the consent of the individual concerned to the collection, use and dissemination of that information. However, we may seek consent to use and disclose Personal Information after it has been collected in those cases where YoCWR wishes to use the information for a purpose not previously identified or for which the individual concerned has not previously consented.

By providing Personal Information to YoCWR, you agree and consent that we may collect, use and disclose your Personal Information in accordance with this Policy. In addition, where appropriate, specific authorizations or consents may be obtained from time to time.

In most cases and subject to legal and contractual restrictions, you are free to refuse or withdraw your consent at any time upon reasonable, advance notice. This notice may be provided to the Director of Marketing or Campaign Director. See “Resolving Your Privacy Concerns” below for contact information. It should be noted that in certain circumstances, services can only be offered if you provide Personal Information to YoCWR. Consequently, if you choose to not provide us with any required Personal Information, we may not be able to offer you the services requested. We will inform you of the consequences of the withdrawal of consent.

The Accuracy and Retention of Personal Information

YoCWR endeavours to ensure that any Personal Information provided and in its possession is as accurate, current and complete as necessary for the purposes for which we use that information. Users of our site or services are responsible for informing YoCWR of any changes in their Personal Information. If we become aware that Personal Information is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, YoCWR will revise the Personal Information.

We keep your Personal Information only as long as it is required for the reasons it was collected. The length of time we retain information varies, depending on the service and the nature of the information. This period may extend beyond the end of a person’s relationship with YoCWR but it will be only for so long as it is necessary to have sufficient information to respond to any issues that may arise at a later date.

When your Personal Information is no longer required for our purposes, we will destroy, delete, erase or convert it into an anonymous form. After June 30, 2016, all data will be transferred to a new non-profit entity who will abide by this Privacy Policy or provide notice of changes.

Protection of Personal Information

YoCWR endeavours to maintain appropriate physical, procedural and technical security with respect to its offices and information storage facilities so as to prevent any loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure, or modification of Personal Information. This also applies to our disposal or destruction of Personal Information.

YoCWR further protects Personal Information by restricting access to it to those employees that the management of YoCWR has determined need to know that information in order that we may provide our services.

If any employee of YoCWR misuses Personal Information, this will be considered a serious offence for which disciplinary action may be taken, up to and including termination of employment. If any individual or organization misuses Personal Information–provided for the purpose of providing services to or for YoCWR –his will be considered a serious issue for which action may be taken, up to and including termination of any agreement between YoCWR and that individual or organization.

Access To Your Personal Information

YoCWR permits the reasonable right of access and review of Personal Information held by us about an individual and will endeavour to provide the information in question within a reasonable time, generally no later than thirty (30) days following the request. To guard against fraudulent requests for access, we may require sufficient information to allow us to confirm that the person making the request is authorized to do so before granting access or making corrections.

We will provide information from our records in a form that is easy to understand. YoCWR reserves the right not to change any Personal Information but will append any alternative text the individual concerned believes to be appropriate.

YoCWR reserves the right to decline to provide access to Personal Information in certain circumstances as permitted or required by law. This may occur for example where the information requested:

a) Would disclose (i) Personal Information, including opinions, about another individual or about a deceased individual; or (ii) trade secrets or other business confidential information that may harm YoCWR or the competitive position of a third party;
b) Would interfere with contractual or other negotiations of YoCWR or a third party;
c) Is subject to solicitor-client, litigation or other legal privilege;
d) Is not readily retrievable and the burden or cost of providing would be disproportionate to the nature or value of the information;
e) Does not exist, is not held, or cannot be found by YoCWR;
f) May harm or interfere with law enforcement activities and other investigative or regulatory functions of a body authorized by law to perform such functions; or
g) May be withheld or is requested to be withheld under applicable legislation.
Where information will not or cannot be disclosed, the individual making the request will be provided with the reasons for nondisclosure.

Resolving Your Privacy Concerns

In the event of questions about: (i) access to your Personal Information; (ii) our collection, use, management or disclosure of Personal Information; or (iii) this Policy; please contact YoCWR by sending an e-mail to info@YoCWR.org.

YoCWR will investigate all complaints. If a complaint is justified, YoCWR will take all reasonable steps to resolve the issue.

If YoCWR is unable to resolve your concerns to your satisfaction and you live in a province that has enacted personal information protection legislation, we will provide you with contact information with the appropriate Privacy Commissioner in that province. If you live in a province that does not have such legislation, you may contact the Privacy Commissioner of Canada by writing to:

No Warranties and Limitation of Liability
Information provided on this web site is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including without limitation warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. YoCWR periodically adds, changes, improves, or updates the information and documents on this web site without notice. YoCWR assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the content of this web site. Your use of this web site is at your own risk. USERS OF THIS SITE WAIVE ANY AND ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE USAGE OF THE SYSTEM OR MATERIAL OR INFORMATION MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SYSTEM, WHETHER SUCH CLAIMS ARE AGAINST YoCWR OR ANY OTHER PERSON WHO HAS SUPPLIED MATERIAL TO THE SYSTEM. Under no circumstances and under no legal theory shall YoCWR, its suppliers, or any other party involved in creating, producing, or delivering this web site’s contents be liable to you or any other person for any damages, including but not limited to indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising from your access to, or use of, this web site.

You agree to indemnify and hold Year of Code Waterloo Region and its members harmless from any claim arising as a result of your use of this web site.